Friday, 21 November 2008

Tartan Army Warnings Unheeded

Nice wee article in The Record about the poor turnout for the Argentina game which cost the SFA £800,000 to bring the South Americans to Glasgow with only 32,492 paying at the gate.Alan Duncan, chairman of the North of Scotland fans group was quoted and he beleived that the match shouldn't have gone ahead, "What's the point in the SFA consulting the fans about whether to take this fixture and then completely ignoring our advice? How are the SFA going to recover these losses? They will probably try to increase the tickets prices at the next game. A couple of years ago we were being charged £23 for the same seat which on Wednesday cost us £30. Do they not know there is a credit crunch going on? I couldn't give the tickets away. I stood outside and offered them for half price and no one would take them."Apparently it seems it's a wake up call to for the SFA whose chief executive Gordon Smith said: "I would have to say that I would need to think twice about bringing a nation such as Brazil here in the future."It's not really a surprise to anyone surely that friendly matches do not light that fire? The thrust over the past three years has been the competitive atmosphere at Hampden because we've been competing with and beating the best in matches that matter. That's the buzz, thats what the Tartan Army want more of.The question actually should be asked about how lucky the SFA were that Diego Maradona was appointed in time for this match - how many of the 32,492 were enticed through the gates because of the pre match publicity. What would the losses have been without that particular sideshow.Brazil? Sounds great on paper but give me Iceland anytime!